


time

by ShatteredEpiphany



Series: eternal winter [3]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Angst, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M, Oikawa Angst Fest 2k17, connects to cold bites and vanilla, winter themes galore
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-19
Updated: 2017-08-19
Packaged: 2018-12-17 08:19:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 895
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11847636
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShatteredEpiphany/pseuds/ShatteredEpiphany
Summary: It froze and stopped.Iwaizumi stopped. While everything and everyone else moved on, he was still there. In the cold and darkness.Wandering a frozen wasteland at times, getting closer to the surface on others. Sometimes he could even see human like shadows, but mostly it was just him.Tooru.





	time

The dark intertwined with brief periods of light. Sometimes it even makes you question whether the sun will come back. Eventually it does, but it feels long. Nights are too long then.

During winter, that is.

And winter was definitely _their_ season.

He was sure of that.

Everything that happened was only during the coldest months of the year.

The first time they met when they were just kids. The streets were gray, a mass of ice covering them. Holding onto each other was the only way to remain steady.

The first time they kissed, much later on, lips meeting in a collision of fire and ice. The winter that year was much tamer, but they made up for it with the snowstorm that was the start of their relationship.

And the first time they admitted that it meant something more. In the small apartment that was never warm enough, but somehow they had managed to make it livable. Somehow they had made it through every winter.

Until the time that it all changed.

When it froze and stopped.

Iwaizumi stopped. While everything and everyone else moved on, he was still there.

In the cold and darkness. 

Wandering a frozen wasteland at times, getting closer to the surface on others. Sometimes he could even see human like shadows, but mostly it was just _him_.

His other half, his best friend, his everything.

Tooru.

It was clear that the seasons were changing for the other, time was passing like normal. His hair grew out, wilder curls than before. His face became thinner, his clothes more worn out and even without properly looking Iwaizumi could tell that his hands were cold bitten.

Once or twice Iwaizumi even got close enough to touch him, but then no matter how much he tried, it never happened. The scene around him flickered, frozen wasteland dragging him back into its embrace and away from Tooru.

He fought it. He tried everything, because an existence like this was more miserable than death.

He tried everything to go back to the scene when it all froze and he ceased.

It slipped through his hands like freshly fallen snow, not sticking together and crumbing at the slightest pressure.

If he thought enough and long enough, he could recall the blinding headlights, tires screeching, metal bending and then nothingness.

Nothingness, until he found the frozen wasteland which had become his.. His purgatory, he supposed.

Sometimes he wondered what became of his body, but thoughts were fleeting here and out of focus. So he looked ahead and took in the never changing scene instead.

Barren ground, with patches of rime and ice in the early morning. Last night must have been cold, he thought for the thousandth time. But then every night was last night. That same exact night.

And it was still cold, so cold taking a breath meant your throat might close up, but did it even matter if you weren’t really there?

Iwaizumi counted down to ten and the wasteland flickered out of existence. The early morning scene was replaced with the sound of Tooru’s laughter.

He was walking down the road with somebody and laughing? Iwaizumi was sure it had been years since he had heard Tooru laugh quite like that.

He must be moving on.

_But I’m still here._

_I’m not moving on, SO WHY ARE YOU?_

-

Oikawa woke up in cold sweat, shivers running through his body.

The heater in his room was broken again. Before falling asleep late last night he had huddled underneath all the blankets that ~~they~~ he owned and that still hadn’t been enough.

He was probably sick, he could tell from how his body was aching and trembling. And the sickness had caused him to dream.

A nightmare?

He wasn’t sure, but the bitter ache in his chest and the tears gathered at the corners of his eyes told him so.

Hajime and the frozen wasteland.

He clenched his fists gathering the blankets even closer to him, inhaling, hoping to get a whiff of a scent long gone.

Contrary to what the dream had been telling him, he wasn’t moving on. If anything, it was getting worse.

The brief moments of happiness, like the one last week, where he shared an inside joke with a co-worker, were few and far between. He was finding it harder and harder to get out of bed in the morning, to go to work and talk to people, as if everything was normal.

It wasn’t.

Oikawa sat up, the rush of dizziness blinding him for a moment. The black spots only increased as he tried to drag himself out of bed. Vertigo and nausea.

But he had to move?

He wasn’t even sure why, it was a strange urgency pushing him to stand up. It took the last of his strength as he did and he only vaguely felt himself stumble and hit the floor moments later.

A muddled haze overtook him.

And then he felt warmth for the first time in forever.

“Iwa-chan?”

It didn’t make sense to him even in this state, but the words were out before he could process it properly. His throat closed up.

Iwaizumi was crouching next to him, warm hand brushing the hair that was sticking to Oikawa’s sweaty forehead to one side.

“It’s ok, Tooru. It’s all going to be ok.”

**Author's Note:**

> bet you weren't expecting this one lol
> 
> any comments? 
> 
> come scream at me @ [tumblr](http://mingohomo.tumblr.com/)  
> [writing side blog](https://shattered-epiphany.tumblr.com/)


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